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MEANS FORSUPERHEATING AIR FOE PUDDLING AND HEATING FURNACES. No. 247,509. Patented Sept. 27,1881.

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WILLIAM B. MIDDLETON, OF LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM GIBBON S MENDINHALL, OF SAME PLACE.

MEANS FOR SUP-ERHEATING AIR FOR PUDDLlNG AND HEATING FURNACES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 247,509, dated September 27, 1881,

" Application filed June 16,1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM BULLUs MID- DLETON, of the city of Lancaster, county of Lancaster, State of Pennsylvania, have invented anewand useful Improvement in the Means for Superheating Air for Puddling and Heating Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of puddling and heatingfurnaces where the waste or gaseous products of combustion are employed to heat a boiler forthe generation of steam, said boiler being supported on columns above the furnace or set up alongside of the same upon the ground-floor. 7

In all puddling and heating furnaces as ordinarily constructed (notwithstanding the utilization of a portion of the heat for generation of steam) agreat waste of heat occurs for want of an absorbent. This can be and is by my invention made available without any detrimental effect upon the draft of the furnace or the steaming economy of the boiler.

It is a fact well known to metallurgists that the introduction of air back of or at the bridgewall of a furnace, where the current of air would intercept the products of combustion from the fire-chamber,- tends to an economy of fuel, and by the increased heat generated thereby gives a decided gain in the time necessary for reduction, particularly so if the air thus applied isheated before its introduction. Advantage has been taken of this principle by builders of stationary, locomotive, and marine boilers to their manifest advantage.

Considering the delivery of fresh air-as of equal importance with the heating thereof, and that the blast delivered to the furnace should be a combination of both, I have so arranged my superheater that the air passed through the same shall be supplied from the air exterior to or outside of the furnace. The point of delivery has also received my close attention,

ing therewith shall impinge upon the pig metal or mass of metal to be heated, puddled, or boiled, the intense heat of the united product rapidly reducing and purifying the same.

In the accompanying drawings, which is an elevation and partial plan of my superheater applied to an overhead boiler heated by the gases from a heating-furnace, and in which similar figures denote a similarity of parts, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a furnace with overhead boiler and superheater; Fig. 2, a partial plan, showing arrangement of superheater in the flue beneath the boiler.

Av represents the furnace; B, the fire-chamher; 0, the bridge-wall; D, the hearth, which is extended to E, forming a charging-floor, where the heat unabsorbed by the mass under treatment at D serves to heat and prepare for working the charges introduced in the fur- 7o nace by the door E. F is the flue to the overhead boiler, (which would be projected horizontally if the boiler were set upon the ground alongside of the furnace;) G the horizontal flue underneath the boiler leading to the stack. 7 5 H, is the stack; K, the main blast pipe or receiver for the works; L, pipe or pipes leading from the receiver K to the flue G of the boilersetting, where it is connected with a pipe or pipes connected by branches or return-bends so arranged that the pipes shall lie across the flue zigzag or at right angles therewith, (or they may be fore-and-aft pipes parallel with the same,) and with more or less space between, being raised above the floor of the fine by standards upon the flue-plates, or by legs cast upon the pipes themselves, the object bein g to have a free circulation of hot gases all around the pipes forming the superheater. A branch or branches, L, reverse-curved drop from the pipe or pipes L forward of the bridge-wall of the furnace, beneath or alongside, while from said branch or branches the pipe or pipes L" are carried in a direct line through the base of the stack, (for an over- 5 head setting,) and project beyond the wall for the admission of a valve, '12, having an arm, n. The reverse-curved pipe or pipes L are also provided with a valve, m, having an arm, m, the valves m and a being connected by their arms m and 'n by the rod R, and so operated with relation to each other that when the blast from the superheater is passing into the furnace the valve m shall be open and the valve a closed, and when the blast is thrown off of the furnace the valve m shall be closed and the valve n opened, thus preventing the burning of the superheater-pipes and an over-expansion of air in the same. This automatic operation of the two valves places the entire control of the furnace in the hands of the puddler, heater, or boiler without any uncertainty as to direction of air-current or position of valves.

The terminal reverse-curved pipe or pipes L may have reducing-nozzles upon their ends, which terminate inside of the roof of the furnace, or they may deliver into a horizontal pipe walled into the roof of the furnace having the contour of the same, and. perforated with a series of holes, said holes being plain or provided with short nozzles secured in the same, the intention being to intercept the products of combustion and intermix therewith the currents of hot air from the superheater in the most effective manner. I give preference to the nozzles, as being more energetic.

Having described my improvement, its adaptation and use, I desire to secure by Letters Patent the following claims:

1. The superheating-pipes L, with their reverse-curved branch L, nozzles L, and reliefextension L, in combination with the main pipe or receiver K, gas-flue G, of the boilersetting J, and heating, paddling, or boiling furnace A, substantially as shown, and for the purpose specified.

2. The valves m and n, with their arms m and n, and connecting-rod It, in combination with blowing-pipe L and re1ief-pipe L, whereby the action of the superheated air upon the furnace is automatically controlled, substantially as described and shown, for the purpose set forth.

WILLIAM BULLUS MIDDLETON.

Witnesses:

O. I. STORMFETT, J. K. BARR. 

